Bereavement Ministry
The Bereavement Ministry provides support during the difficult time of losing a loved one. Assistance is offered in planning the funeral liturgy, coordinating activities with the church, funeral home, musicians and celebrant. In this way, families are enabled to plan a service that is personal, meaningful and comforting to them. A brochure to help guide you through your funeral planning process is available at the link below. Please contact Deacon Bill Timmes at 407-647-3392 for more information. Click here for the Funeral Planning Guide.
Bereavement Support Group
“Blessed Are You Who Mourn, For You Shall Be Comforted” – GriefShare is a Faith-based Bereavement Support Group that meets in local churches. They welcome anyone who is grieving the death of a loved one. They are there to offer hope, strength and consolation during this difficult time. To find locations and dates go to https://www.griefshare.org/ and enter your zip code.
Caregiver Support Ministry
For those who are the primary caregiver for a family member or loved one in their home or facility. Caregivers struggle to balance caregiving with other responsibilities including jobs and caring for children. Time away, even a short time, can help the caregiver care for themselves. The focus is on support, prayer, and time to share. Meetings are once a month on the phone or video until the end of the pandemic.
Contact: Deacon Bill Timmes 407-647-3392, [email protected]
Homebound Visits
Certified Ministers to the Sick visit the homebound (parishioners only) with communion, by request. Ministers are assigned as needed, either short term or long term to a specified parishioner. Please call the Ministry to the Sick office if you have a friend or family member who is unable to attend Mass and would appreciate a pastoral visit at home with the Eucharist.
Hospital Visitations
Hospital visits to Winter Park Hospital with communion are made by Ministers to the Sick on a regular basis to parishioners and non-parishioners. Priest visitations for Anointing of the Sick or Reconciliation are made through the church office.
Parishioners are visited in all hospitals by request. Please call the Pastoral Care office, 407-647-3392 if you or a family member desires a visit during a hospital stay.
Winter Park Hospital: Pastoral visits and Communion most days; anointing when requested.
All other hospitals (Florida South, Orlando Regional, Arnold Palmer, etc.): Please call the parish office at 407-647-3392 for a visitation. The priests of St. Margaret Mary or a Minister of the Sick visit parishioners only in these hospitals.
Nursing Home Visitation
St. Margaret Mary Ministers of the Sick visit the following nursing homes and facilities:
The Gardens at DePugh
Winter Park Care & Rehabilitation
Parkview Nursing & Rehabilitation
Mayflower Assisted Living
The Plymouth
Rehabilitation Center of Winter Park
Regents Park
Westchester Assisted Living
Winter Park Westminster Towers
Winter Park Westminster Towers Baldwin Park
U.S. Veterans Nursing Home
DePugh Nursing Home
Anointing upon request.
Winter Park Care and Rehabilitation
Anointing upon request.
Parkview Nursing & Rehabilitation
Mass at 10:00 am, 4th Thursday.
Anointing upon request.
Mayflower Assisted Living
Communion Service 1st, 2nd & 4th Tuesday at 5pm,
Mass 3rd Tuesday of every month at 10am.
Internet Mass from St. Margaret Mary every Sunday at 9:30am in the Health Center.
Anointing upon request.
Rehabilitation Center of Winter Park-
Anointing upon request.
Regents Park Nursing & Rehabilitation
Communion services & visits 1st, 3rd and 4th Fridays
Anointing upon request.
Westchester Assisted Living
Anointing upon request.
Westminster Winter Park Assisted Living
Mass on 1st Friday every month at 2:00 pm
Anointing upon request
U.S. Veterans Nursing Home
Mass every Sunday at 11:00 am with Catholic Chaplain, Fr. McChord
Homebound: Homebound Ministers visit parishioners with communion upon request only.
Reconciliation is always upon request only.
Calls to other hospitals upon request only.
The Plymouth
Anointing upon request.
Westminster Baldwin Park
Anointing upon request.
Prayer Line
Does someone you know, or even yourself, need prayers? We have parishioners who, as part of their ministry, will pray for your needs. Just call the parish office at 407-647-3392 and give us the name of the person who needs prayers. By that evening many prayers are being said for your intention.
Purls & Prayers - A Crocheting & Knitting Ministry
The purpose of the ministry is to create prayer shawls, blankets, caps or other garments as an outward and visible sign of the mystical reality of prayer that knits our souls together in God and Christ. These garments may be given to those in transition in their lives, expectant mothers, children leaving home, the sick, homebound, or elderly to comfortably remind them that they are present to us and bound to us in community. Meetings are held every Tuesday at 10am until noon in the Family Life Center. Please call Deacon Bill Timmes 407-647-3392
Spiritual Direction: ........ a listening ministry
An invitation for you to share your story of faith with confidence and understanding with someone who is on the journey and has some training in spiritual direction. Someone to receive you with reverence and love and help you notice and attend to the living God who is present in all your experiences!
When was the last time someone truly listened to you? With whom do you share your relationship with God? Spiritual Direction is a specialized ministry in the church. It is a graced way of serving another believer, helping the other to grow in intimacy with God, to live out the consequence of this intimacy. The focus of a spiritual direction relationship is the directee’s experience of God and the communication that happens between God and the directee.
Spiritual Direction is for anyone who wants to develop a deeper relationship with God, who’s search for God seems to be at a crossroad, or who wants to explore new methods of prayer, when one feels the need for someone to help in discerning the call of the Spirit, or feels the need for a companion on the spiritual journey, to walk with them and to listen.
You can expect a good director to keep the focus on the directee’s relationship with God. Contemporary direction presumes that God communicates through ordinary human experience, and in that experiences is found God’s invitations and urgings and confirmations. A good director is a companion on life’s journey - asking reflective questions and pointing out resources. Direction also assists with resistance and roadblocks, helping the directee to come to breakthroughs.
As a ministry of St. Margaret Mary, there is no cost involved when seeing one of the directors listed here.
The following members of St. Margaret Mary Parish are Audire-trained Spiritual Directors:
Julia Harper - email
Sharon Wess
Betty Shaw - email
Sharon Sheehan - email
These additional “Audire” trained directors of St. Margaret Mary Parish may be contacted by calling Deacon Bill Timmes 407-647-3392
Surviving Spouses
Surviving Spouses is a support group for those who have lost a spouse. The group seeks to provide emotional and spiritual support through shared experiences and feelings. The group offers an atmosphere of understanding and encouragement for those dealing with the loss of a husband or wife.
For more information please contact Deacon Bill at [email protected] or 407- 647-3392